GERRY MODDEJONGE, QMI Agency

J.C. Sherritt may be a rookie in the CFL, but the badge he wears — represented by the No. 47 on his jersey — is the same one used by the Edmonton Eskimos’ latest inductee onto the Wall of Honour.

Larry Wruck wore it during his CFL career in Edmonton from 1985-96, which he spent patrolling the same interior linebacker spot Sherritt now holds.

“I need to do some more research but I’ve been told a little bit about the way he played and who he was,” said Sherritt, who has met some different alumni members, but not Wruck. “I hope I get that honour.”

For now, he will have to settle for seeing his number next to Wruck’s name above the field on the Wall of Honour, knowing that he’s got some big cleats to fill.

“With a lot of these players, you know that if you get put up on that ring, that’s something pretty special,” said Sherritt. “So it’s a cool thing.”

But Sherritt didn’t exactly have his eye on No. 47 when he got here after graduating from Eastern Washington.

“That’s what was issued to me, you know?” he said. “But it’s pretty cool now, the more you get to know about it, to find out who got to wear that in the past and it’s an honour right now to have that number on.

“I was 4 in college, so that was my number. I got to keep one of it, but once it changed up here, I just became a part of it.”

Sherritt exploded onto the scene in his CFL debut with 11 tackles to help the Eskimos to a 42-28 season-opening victory over the same Saskatchewan Roughriders who will be in Commonwealth Stadium on Thanksgiving Monday.

Currently, he leads the Eskimos with 69 tackles, good for third in the league.

“I got put in a great situation, with the coaches that we have, with the system we run and the veteran leadership that got put around me,” Sherritt said. “As a rookie, to come in and have all those things in place, that was a big deal for me.

“There are people I can lean on and I’ve got coaches guiding me and there’s always veteran players out here.”

Not to mention some former ones whose names are forever enshrined along the wall.

“You have to, once you walk in here, look up and see the wall,” Sherritt said. “Coach (Mark) Nelson’s dad is up here. You see Danny Kepley, as a linebacker, of course you always know about him, his reputation.

“You’re always conscious of the great players that have played here.”

IN AND OUT: RG Greg Wojt sat out practice wearing an air boot after getting his ankle rolled on by a pile of players during Wednesday’s practice.

“Greg has spoken to me and said it is markedly better (Thursday),” said head coach Kavis Reed. “I anticipate that he probably won’t practise (a lot) but he will probably be available for the football game.

“The way that he fell, we had the luxury to slow down the video, and the fortunate thing is his leg was able to get out fast enough and it didn’t dig into the turf. It could have been a catastrophic injury.”